Just Have Faith
by louisluv218
Summary: The story of Kleo Nightingale's hunger Games experience. (I made up alot of the characters. I don't own Hunger Games, and I know it's a sucky intro. Just pweese read it.) I'm only on the first book, so if someone died in a later book and i have them in here, don't hold it against me.
1. Chapter 1

It was the day of the Reaping. I woke up to the uninviting stench and crisp air of District 12. My brother, Hayle, was standing in my room.

"Wakey-wakey, Kleo." He nudged. "We have to be to the reaping in an hour."

As soon as he said Reaping, I shot out of bed. I always get nervous at this time of year. With my petite stature and nervous look, you could swear I was a twelve year old, experiencing their first reaping, instead of a fifteen-year-old. Hayle left the room, but he poked his head back in and said, "May the odds be ever in your favor."

"Shut up!" I responded. I pulled my best dress out of my closet. It wasn't pretty, but it was the same dress I wore to the Reaping every year. This is the 82nd year that the Capitol was forcing 24 kids to fight to the death. In district 12, we've only had 4 victors. But two of them were the most legendary victors in Hunger Games history. Peeta Mellark, the baker's son, and my role model, Katniss Everdeen. The girl on fire. They both won the 74th Hunger Games.

I snapped out of my trance and slipped into my dress. I put my hair up in a braided bun, the same way Katniss wore hers on the day of her Reaping. I walked out into our tiny kitchen. My Mother gasped.

"You look beautiful, Kleo!" She gushed.

"Hey! Don't I look beautiful?" Hayle joked.

"Yes, Hayle. You're lovely." I responded. I sat down at our empty table. Mom put a squirrel in front of me. "Where did you get this?"

"I traded some milk from the goat for it." She responded. "Now eat up."

I dug in to the squirrel. It didn't taste very good, but it was the first time in months that I've had meat. So I didn't complain.

"Hustle! We have to leave!" Hayle pushed me out our small wooden door., and we walked towards town.


	2. Chapter 2

Hayle and I walked toward the crowded center. I stepped into the line, with Hayle standing right behind me. The Peacekeeper on duty took a sample of my blood, and another one shooed me into the fifteen-year-old girl section. I tried to find Hayle in the chaos, and I saw him being pushed into the 17-year-old boy section. When I looked at him, I was shocked to see that he looked even more scared than I did. He signed up for Tesserae for my whole family, so his name was entered more than mine.

"Welcome, welcome." Effie Trinket, our escort, walked onto the makeshift stage set up in Town Center. There was so much blood pumping in my ears, her words came out like muffled murmurs. It was the same routine as every year. The mayor spoke his usual boring speech, and what I saw next brought me to attention. Walking onto the stage, was none other than Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark. The two held hands, just like they did in the tribute parade the year of their games.

"Hello, everybody." Peeta spoke. He waved to the audience and flashed his charming smile. I heard the girl next to me swoon.

"All we can say is, may the odds be ever in your favor." Katniss said in a mock Capitol accent.

Effie scoffed. "Well, I most certainly do not talk like that." She said in an accent identical to Katniss's joke accent. "Now, the time has come to select one courageous young man and woman to have the honor of representing District 12 in the 82nd annual Hunger Games. As usual, ladies first." Effie reached her perfectly manicured hands into the glass ball with thousands of girl's names written carefully on slips of paper.

'Calm down, Kleo.' I thought to myself. 'Your name's only in there four times. There are thousands of names in there. They're not gonna pick you.'

"Kleo Nightingale." Effie spoke.

'That can't be me.' I thought. 'There's no way she said my name.'

It was only when I looked over at Hayle, who had a look on his face that was a mix of fear, worry, and astonishment, that I knew it was my name.

"Kleo, darling?" Effie's voice erupted into the microphone. "Don't be shy. Step right up."

I snapped out of my trance and walked out into the center. I was instantly surrounded by Peacekeepers. I trudged onto the stage. "Such a beautiful name, for a beautiful girl." I smiled, then I turned and looked out into the audience, pleading, 'Please let someone volunteer in my place. Anyone!'

Effie must have read my mind. "Are there any volunteers to take Kleo's place?"

No one spoke.

"Alright then. Now for the gentlemen."

Effie reached her hand into the glass ball on her other side. She pulled out a piece of paper, and the world seemed to move in slow motion as she opened it. "Thorne Jenesen"

I scanned the crowd of boys, trying to pinpoint which one I'd be competing against. My eyes fell on a boy with blond hair and light blue eyes, about my age, who had the same scared look on his face that Hayle had. My suspicions were answered when he walked into the center and on to the stage. We shook hands, and Effie spoke into the microphone, "Let's have a big hand for our tributes this year. Kleo and Thorne!"


	3. Silence

Silence. That was all we heard at the reaping. No one spoke, moved, or breathed. It was the loudest silence I'd ever heard. I felt my nerves collapse, and I felt a single tear drip down my face as I looked at Hayle, and another when I saw my Mother's head in her hands, her blonde hair covering most of her face. Silence. I felt like my spirit was going to break out of my body, and leave me there like a pile of nothing. I wanted to run. I wanted to hide. I wanted to cry. But I knew that if I tried, the Peacekeepers would catch me and push me right back on stage. Effie gave me a light tap on the shoulder, which shocked me back to reality. I turned and walked offstage, Effie, Thorne, Katniss, and Peeta following directly behind.


	4. Chapter 4

"Kleo!" Mom and Hayle ran into the room I was standing in.

"You have three minutes." A giant male peacekeeper told them.

"Kleo!" Mom repeated as she wrapped me in a hug.

"Mom! I'm going to be fine. I'm going to win."

"How do you know?" She had tears in her eyes.

"Just have faith." I held my Mom's shoulders. That's what I always told her when she was going through a tough time, which was pretty much every day in District 12.

I looked over at Hayle. I could tell that he was sad, but he did his best to hide it. "I guess the odds weren't in your favor, huh?"

"I guess." I walked over and hugged my brother. Usually when I hugged him, he would try to wiggle free like I had cooties, but this time, he wrapped his arms back around me. I felt a tear run onto my shoulder and seep through my clothes.

"Time's up." The Peacekeeper grabbed my Mom and Hayle and pushed them out of the room.

"Good luck, Sis." Hayle yelled through the door before it slammed shut.


	5. Chapter 5

We were on a train on the way to the capitol. It was like being on one of those roller coasters I've read about in school. It was moving so fast, but it barely felt like it was moving at all.

"Never thought I'd find myself on this thing again." Katniss and Peeta walked into the room. Peeta was the usual mentor for District 12 tributes, but this year, Katniss decided to step in. So Katniss would be my mentor and Peeta would be Thorne's mentor.

"I'm Katniss." She wore her hair in her signature braid. She stuck out her hand.

"Kleo." I shook her hand. It felt warm and hard, because of her hunting.

"Look, It's a shame that you have to be here, but honestly, the food's great." Peeta joked.

Katniss giggled, which I've only ever seen her do once, in her interview with Caesar.

"So, I'm going to tell you what our mentor, Haymitch, told us to do on our first day. Stay alive." Katniss smiled. Peeta rolled his eyes. Katniss responded, "Hey, that advice is what made us win."

I reached out and started snacking on a truffle. It tasted sweet, and nutty. Like something in my dreams. "So, are you still referred to as The Girl on Fire, Katniss?" I asked, obviously a starstruck teenager desperate to make conversation.

"Yeah. Sometimes. It gets on my nerves sometimes." Katniss picked up a cookie and bit into it. "I missed Capitol food."

"Could you tell us how to get sponsors?" Thorne stammered. He was so quiet and still that I completely forgot that he was there.

"I'll take this one, Catnip." Peeta smiled. Katniss stuck her tongue out. "You need to get people to like you. Make an impression. Don't look too fake, though. Even though the capitol's full of posers, they can sniff them out like bloodhounds."

"Good to know." I smiled.

"So, now that we got all of the depressing stuff out of the way, tell us about yourselves." Katniss rested her chin in her palm.

"Well, I live with my Mom and my brother, Hayle." I smiled. "We live in a small house in the outskirts of District 12, right by the fence. We have a goat, and a cat, but they're both dying." I sighed and looked down at the floor.

Katniss nodded, like she understood completely what I was going through. "And what about you?" She looked at Thorne.

"Uh, I live with my Mom, Dad, and my 4 sisters. I'm the oldest. I had to order tesserae for my whole family just for us to survive. My Mom's a healer."

"You guys could really use the prize, huh?" Peeta sympathized.

"Yeah." Thorne sighed. I nodded in agreement.

"Well, then we should get to work." Katniss smiled a sly smile.


End file.
